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The mission of the Skype an Author Network is to provide K-12 teachers and librarians with a way to connect authors, books, and young readers through virtual visits. Wouldn't it be great to invite authors into your classroom or library to video chat with students before, during, and/or after reading their books? We are growing a list of authors who want to make that connection with you via Skype. Visit our Skype Overview page to learn more about Skype. The site also shares some great success stories to inspire and inform you for planning and organising.

"Not only does "Author Fan Face-Off" provide students, teachers, and school librarians with an innovative game-show style show with some amazing authors, but it makes dreams come true when these student super-fans get to meet their favorite authors. I"

This resource presents units of work on 12 popular authors whose works cover early childhood through to secondary interests. Each unit includes an author interview, supporting resources and a lesson outline with curriculum links. Authors include: J C Burke, Larissa Behrandt, Peter Fitzsimons, Jacqueline Wilson, Meg Rosoff, William Dalrymple, Andy Griffiths, Alison Lester, Anita Heiss, John Boyne, Tara June and Winch Ros Gittens

"While author studies can give useful background, there's nothing like talking with an author about the unique inspiration and process they go through in creating. This sense of connection is part of why people tell stories and become authors in the first place-we need to know we aren't alone. While this connection continues to be true, the truth is a universal one."

This page is intended as a resource for anyone looking for more information about a given author or illustrator. Many of these author/illustrator websites include activities, reviews and contact details (where relevant).

Author visits are powerful for hooking students to books. Both face-to-face and virtual author visits are worth consideing

Learning with the Internet - Learning Focus: How might one of these three integration models (Author Study, Internet Project, Progressive Stories) fit with your curriculum so that it impacts student literacy learning. US focus on authors and links but projects can be applied and adapted to meet local needs.

What sustains our belief in the integrity of fictional places? The fact that they seem to act upon events as much as the people who live in them, for one thing. And, just as often, the fact that so many authors and illustrators draw elaborate maps of literary settings, making their features real to us and embedding them in our minds.

Many authors and illustrators now have their own websites. Here are just a few such sites where you will find all kinds of information about these special people.

Curated visual list of author and illustrator websites.

This site supports Australian literature, authors and specific books with a wealth of educational resources. Strong coverage of classics with growing collection on more contemporary works and authors

Tony Stead is an educator and literacy consultant. Tony is a lead author for Scholastic's Literacy Place for the Early Years (K-3), Moving Up with Literacy Place, 4-6, and Stepping Up with Literacy Place, 7-8.

Find and level books with Book Wizard. Plus, get booktalks, lesson plans, author studies, videos, and discussion guides. Note the topic and author search is fine without locking students into leveled reading

A bibliography is an alphabetical list, by author, of the sources (books, journals, websites, etc) you have used to research and write your assignment. A bibliography usually includes information such as the author, title, publisher and date. An annotation is a concise summary and/or evaluation of the value or relevance of each source. An annotated bibliography combines these two elements and provides bibliographic information plus a summary and/ or evaluation of each of the sources you have used. An annotated bibliography may be one part of a larger assessment item.

Author, Shannon Hale, writes about gender bias that permeates in schools and libraries through choices made about books and author visits.

"Often I suggest we bring historically based picture books into student learning to explore history. So many titles are rich entry points for moments and individuals from the past. Another approach though is to use these narratives to explore the author as a researcher. How do authors gather background about individuals and events? How does that process help define the story?"

This free database is available to everyone anywhere in the world. It is especially useful for those working with children. Besides annotations for each of the 300+ books and hyperlinks to free teaching resources, we have included many different ways to find just the 'right' books. There are Australian curriculum links, the Early Years Learning Framework links, author, title, publisher, date, subject access and free text searching. You can find books in specific languages, books written and illustrated by children, or books by your favourite authors and illustrators, for example. You can share what you find with colleagues using social media links.

"We all can agree that one of the most rewarding experiences in teaching is helping that one student find their voice and take a commanding role to contribute to the classroom learning experience. Allowing students the opportunity to engage in discourse that involves externalizing, elaborating on their thinking, and receiving feedback will lead to construction of their knowledge and understanding of a topic. However, these discussions require students to have authority and command over their own thinking to reconstruct ideas and concepts based on their previous knowledge and existing schemas."

Online magazine profiling the historical fiction of Australian author Belinda Murrell. Includes information about the writing and research process, resources for teaching with the books and background on each title.

Louis Sachar is an award-winning author of twenty-five books for children and young adults. His book, Holes, won the prestigious National Book Award and the Newbery Medal. Discover more about Louis and his books on this site.